Stanford women outlast UCLA, but Nadia Fingall is out for...

1of14The Stanford bench reacts to a made three point shot in the second half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

2of14Stanford’s Dijonai Carrington (21) shoots a layup while defended by UCLA’s Ahlana Smith (2) in the first half of the Cardinal’s win at Maples Pavilion.Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

3of14Alanna Smith (11) grabs a rebound in the second half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

4of14Kiana Williams (23) on the ground after being fouled in the first half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

5of14Alanna Smith (11) blocks a shot by Ahlana Smith (2) in the first half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

6of14Alanna Smith (11) reacts after hitting a three point shot in the second half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

7of14Alanna Smith (11) points to a teammate after hitting a three point shot in the second half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

8of14The Stanford bench reacts to a shot in the first half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

9of14Bruins' head coach Cori Close talks to her players on the bench in the second half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

10of14Chantel Horvat (0) shoots in the first second as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

11of14Alanna Smith (11) pulls in a rebound in the second half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

12of14Alanna Smith (11) dives for a loose ball against Michaela Onyenwere (21) in the second half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

13of14Lexie Hull (12) has the ball stripped away under the basket in the second half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

14of14Stanford head coach Tara Vanderveer watches the game near the bench in the first half as the Stanford Cardinal played the UCLA Bruins at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday, January 6, 2019. The Cardinal won the game 86-80Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

On a day when No. 6 Stanford found out that starting forward Nadia Fingall is out for the season with a torn ACL, the Cardinal received stellar performances from three experienced players.

Stanford rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit and made enough big plays down the stretch to beat UCLA 86-80 Sunday for their 18th straight home win. It was the Cardinal’s 18th win in their past 19 home games against the Bruins.

DiJonai Carrington had 30 points and nine rebounds. Playing the full 40 minutes, Alanna Smith had 24 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. Kiana Williams had 21 points and a career-high 10 assists.

It was the first time Stanford had three players score at least 20 points since a 2015 game at UCLA.

Carrington, who had 21 of the Cardinal’s 38 points in the first half, said, “When teams are aggressive out in the passing lane, that’s where I thrive.

“People’s shots weren’t falling in the first half, but I know Alanna’s shots are going to fall. No one can guard her. Kiana’s shots are going to fall. Until that starts happening, somebody needs to step up and pick up the lag at that point.”

Stanford (12-1, 2-0 Pac-12) trailed 17-6 in the opening minutes and 45-38 at the half. UCLA, which came into Sunday as the conference’s worst three-point shooting team, hit 7 of 9 from distance in the first half before cooling off considerably in the third quarter.

“We tightened up our defense,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “It was one of those games where we had to get punched in the face before we started fighting. Honestly, we can’t play that way. We have to come out of the gates better.”

UCLA (9-6, 2-1) cut the lead to 81-78 on a three by Lindsey Corsaro with 49 seconds left, but Carrington’s 12-foot jumper put Stanford up 83-78 with 24 seconds left. Smith’s two free throws made it 85-78 with 11 seconds to go, and Stanford was home free.

Fingall, a 6-foot-3 junior averaging eight points and 4.9 rebounds, hurt her knee during Friday’s victory over USC. Stanford was also without forward Maya Dodson for the second straight game because of a foot injury.

VanDerveer said the loss of Fingall “affects us a lot.” VanDerveer hopes Dodson returns soon.

The Bruins were 1-for-9 in the third quarter, when they were outscored 26-12.

“As well as we shot (the three) in the first half, I felt we fell in love with it a little too much in the third quarter,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said.

UCLA had 22 points from Japreece Dean and 14 for Corsaro. Michaela Onyenwere, averaging 16.7 points, was held to 11 on 4-for-16 shooting, mainly because of Smith’s defense. Kennedy Burke also had 11.

The Bruins had lost two key players in last year WNBA draft, Jordin Canada (taken fifth) and Monique Billings (15th).

Stanford forward Lexie Hull made her first appearance in 10 games after recovering from a stress reaction in her left foot. She didn’t score in eight minutes but grabbed three offensive rebounds.

Tom FitzGerald has been the Stanford beat writer for The San Francisco Chronicle since 2009. He also covers men’s and women’s basketball and many other Stanford sports.

He also covers motor sports in the Bay Area and wrote about the America's Cup regatta in San Francisco in 2013, during which Oracle Team USA made one of the greatest comebacks in sports history to beat Emirates Team New Zealand.

Among the many momentous games he has covered were the 49ers' victory over Dallas in the 1982 NFC Championship Game, which featured "The Catch'' by Dwight Clark, and the U.S. hockey team’s 1980 Olympic upset of the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, N.Y. At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, he rode the bobsled run with members of the U.S. team for a first-person story. He also rode on Russell Coutts’ Oracle Team USA catamaran in 2012 and in an Indy car with legendary Mario Andretti in 2014 for other first-person stories.

For 15 years he wrote a popular sports humor column called "Top of the Sixth" (later re-titled "Open Season"). A weekly version of the column was nationally syndicated in as many as 50 daily newspapers.

He has a degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts. He lives in Benicia.